News

Careful targeting reduces mastitis

Published 29 December 11

Just under 900 DairyCo Mastitis Control Plans are
now in place on farms across the country. Becky Floate, a plan
deliverer through The Dairy Group, explains why she thinks they are
such a useful tool in the fight against mastitis.

"When you go on farm with a mastitis problem there are
often a whole host of things that the farmer could be doing to try
and control the problem and without good data to work from it can
be difficult to pinpoint the key areas to target. The plan helps
you prioritise the actions that will really help with that farm's
specific problem and the actions that will have the most effect on
the problem.

"Sometimes it's not the most
obvious thing that is the major cause of mastitis on a farm," she
adds.

"It's the combination of data that goes into the DMCP that
makes it so farm specific and therefore targeted. You need to
provide the herd data you usually get from your milk recorder and
clinical mastitis case data (cow number, quarter effected and date)
in order to pinpoint whether you have predominantly environmental
or contagious mastitis.

"We also undertake an extensive questionnaire into your
management on farm. It can, at the time seem rather long and to be
asking questions about subjects that don't seem to be related to
the mastitis issue," says Becky. "But it gives us the information
to build up a complete picture of where the mastitis comes from and
what actions really will help to reduce incidences."

The plan helps to ascertain if the herd's mastitis problem
originates from the dry period or during the lactation, it assumes
that if cases are occurring in the first 30 days of milk production
that management in the dry period is probably the area to
concentrate on. The plan looks at clinical case data and SCC
patterns separately and with the SCC data we assume that if cows go
over 200,000 SCC they are subclinically infected.

"Mastitis control is an on-going process and we find
that as we get to the root of a dry period problem and things begin
to improve, issues from the lactation, which have not necessarily
been a priority can be tackled," says Becky. And it's a team
approach, working with the vet for any treatments required, and the
farmer and farm staff to instigate the right management
techniques.

Case studies

Becky worked with Tim McKendrick, also from The Dairy
Group, on a DMCP for David Evans at Brunslow Farm, Lydbury North,
Shropshire and saw some good results in tackling the mastitis
issue.

Jan 2010 (start of DMCP)

Nov 2011

% herd > 200SCC

24%

15.7%

Fresh calver (1st 30 days) infection rate (SCC)

23%

9.1%

Lactation new infection rate (SCC)

40%

5.7%

(Monitoring in above table done by using SCC as
indicator of infection.)

The DMCP plan encouraged the Evans' to focus on improving
dry and calving cow management and to look closely at the grazing
management for the whole herd.

Becky and Tim have also recently started to work with TJN
Platt & Sons at Fields Farm, Middlewich, Cheshire, with a
parlour test, DMCP questionnaire and farm data from Interherd. An
action plan has been generated with some clear action
points.

"We've spent some time looking at milking routine,
reducing stocking rates on straw yards and the management of
freshly calved cows. It's early days with this herd but so far
there has been a significant drop in herd SCC," says
Becky.

There are trained plan deliverers across the country
who can implement the DairyCo Mastitis Control Plan. To find
a deliverer near you, visit www.mastitiscontrolplan.co.uk.